Speak Now
by ablondeinaunionjack
Summary: Col's wedding day has finally arrived...but the bride is not who everyone expected. Can Connie stop the wedding before he makes a huge mistake? Songfic to Speak Now by Taylor Swift. Everything recognisable belongs to Julia Golding.


**Yet another random fluffy songfic! This is dedicated as a (late) birthday present to BritainsGotTalentReject, so I hope you enjoy it, Sapphy :D **

**The song is Speak Now by Taylor Swift. I own nothing.**

Connie Lionheart gazed out of her window and sighed. Today was the big day, the day she'd been looking forward to for years. Col's marriage. If only he was marrying the right girl…But no, even after all the years they had been together, he was marrying Shirley Masterson. _Shirley_, of all people. Of course, she and Col hadn't been together for two years – ever since what everyone referred to darkly as The Incident – but she still couldn't believe that his second choice was the weather giant companion. Connie couldn't even believe that he _had_ second choice. She certainly didn't. She'd been so sure that they would stay together, maybe even get married as early as he and Shirley were now; but because of one stupid argument, Col had abandoned her. Mack and Lavinia had done their best to get him to change his mind, but he refused to consider going back to Connie. And when he needed comfort, Shirley had been there every time. Slowly, they'd become closer and closer until one day they announced their engagement, and Connie's world tumbled down around her feet. Eighteen was too young to get married, everyone had agreed about that; but of course, Shirley and Col didn't listen, and now they were having a big white wedding in Hescombe Church. Connie hadn't received an invitation. Not that she cared – seeing Col marry someone else was bad enough to hear about, let alone witness – but it would have been nice to have been able to refuse the invitation.  
In the next room, Connie could hear her Uncle Hugh getting ready – she'd been moved into his bungalow until the wedding preparations in Shaker Row were over – and Wolf barking next door, but she had no desire to leave her room. It was all she could do not to throw herself onto the bed and cry; but she resisted that. Maybe later, she would give in, but for now she had to stand firm. It just wouldn't do to let anybody know how much this hurt: although she had noticed that everybody was careful not to talk to her about Col or Shirley.  
Moving away from the window and the offensively nice day outside, she sat down at her table and drafted an email to her parents.

**Hey, Mum and Dad  
I'm fine thanks, how are you? The weather here is actually pretty good for the time of year, although I'm sure it's not as good as where you are! School's okay, I'm getting pretty good marks and I think I'm on track for my exams. You've probably heard from Si that Col is getting married**

"No, that's wrong," sighed Connie, pressing the backspace button heavily.

**Si's probably told you that my friend Col is getting married, so Aunt Evelyn is busy with that right now.**

"No…"

**Col Clamworthy is getting married today, so I'm staying out of the way of the festivities and concentrating on my schoolwork**.

"Ugh!"  
Connie deleted everything she'd written and sat back, realising that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything whilst Col was at the church. She stood up and walked slowly to the door, wondering whether what she about to do was entirely wise.  
"Well, it's probably as wise as marrying Shirley _Masterson_," she decided, spitting out the girl's name as though it tasted bad.  
Connie turned the door handle and left her room, her heart pounding. This was a very bad idea, she knew; but then, what else was she expected to do? The boy she loved was about to get married to the wrong girl, and she had to stop it. Somehow.

_I am not the kind of girl__  
__Who should be rudely barging in__  
__On a white veil occasion_

__Of course, this went against everything Connie had ever learnt – she just wasn't the sort of person to make such an obvious objection to something like a marriage. But if she wanted to be with Col ever again, she had to stop this before it was too late. She could just imagine Shirley's gleeful smirk as she tried on her dress…shaking her head violently, Connie continued through into the kitchen, where Uncle Hugh was ironing his best shirt. He looked up as she entered.  
"Oh, hello, Connie," he said carefully. "Where are you going?"  
She forced herself to smile.  
"I'm just going for a walk. It's a nice day, shame to waste it."  
"Yes, it is. You're lucky, I'm stuck in a church for…oh."  
"It's okay, Uncle Hugh," she assured him. "I'm okay."  
He smiled, obviously relieved. "Good. Good. Well, enjoy your walk."  
"I'm sure I will," responded Connie.  
She left the house and nearly walked straight into Rat, who was obviously just about to knock on the door. He was in a suit – Connie suddenly remembered that he was the best man.  
"Sorry!" he exclaimed, moving to one side to avoid walking into her. "Are you, er, going to the church…?"  
Connie smiled. "Yeah. But don't tell Uncle Hugh, he thinks I've just gone for walk."  
"My lips are sealed." Rat looked around nervously before dropping his voice to a whisper and adding: "Do you think you'll be able to make him see sense before he actually marries her?"  
"I don't know, but I'm going to try."  
"If I have to, I'll set Wolf on her!" declared Rat fervently.  
Connie laughed. "You do that. Anyway, I'd better go and…you know."  
He nodded. "Good luck."  
"Thanks."  
It was good to know that she wasn't the only one who felt that this marriage was a bad idea, reflected Connie as she walked away. 

_But you are not the kind of boy__  
__Who should be marrying the wrong girl_

__It was so _obvious_ that Connie and Col were meant for each other. Shirley just didn't fit it – but now, of course, Connie had been pushed out and Shirley had tried to fill her place. She was planning to change that. Unlocking the door of her little Volkswagen, she got in and put her foot down, driving frantically towards the church. She swerved dangerously on the ice, and was almost driven into a ditch by a carelessly driven car. When she looked up, she saw that it was the Mastersons' Jeep. Col deserved better than the weather giant companion and her horrible family – if only she could make him see it. She vented her anger with a few muffled swear words before redoubling her efforts down the road to the church. Fortunately it was a short journey and soon Connie found herself skidding along the icy road alongside the church wall. An elderly woman walking along the pavement gave her a disapproving look, but Connie ignored it and parked down the back lane next to the far wall. She rubbed her hands together and swallowed nervously, wishing that she'd thought to get changed before she arrived at such a formal occasion. As it was, she was wearing ripped jeans and a black and silver t-shirt with her scuffed trainers. She knew her hair was a mess, but at that moment she couldn't bring herself to care. The only important thing was stopping the wedding. Now.__

_I sneak in and see your friends__  
__And her snotty little family__  
__All dressed in pastel_

Connie sneaked in behind a large party of people she didn't recognise – friends of the Mastersons, she guessed – and ducked away from them before they sat down, walking along the side aisle towards where Col would be standing. She could see Jane and Anneena sitting together in the second row, both in beautiful dresses, and looked away, hoping that they hadn't noticed her. Next to them sat a couple of Col's friends she didn't know very well – she thought they were called Matt and James, but she wasn't sure. Anneena looked up and Connie was forced to hide behind a pillar so that her friend wouldn't see her. Anneena nudged Jane and nodded to the pillar, muttering something that Connie couldn't quite catch. She froze, her heart pounding. It would be awful if she was found now. Luckily, her friends had only noticed some movement and guessed that it was a bird flying past the stained glass window. Connie continued along the aisle. At the other end of the church on the front row she could see the Masterson family – Mr. Masterson in an ill-fitting light blue suit, Mrs. Masterson in yellow and several unknown relatives in varying shades of pastel colours. Connie stifled a laugh, realising that Shirley's bad fashion taste ran in the family. __

_And she is yelling at a bridesmaid__  
__Somewhere back inside a room__  
__Wearing a gown shaped like a pastry_

Somewhere in the back of the church, she could hear Shirley's raised voice as she berated an unfortunate "friend" of hers – presumably the poor girl who had been forced to become a bridesmaid. Knowing her, the bridesmaids would probably be in dresses as hideous as the ones she usually wore. Connie felt a sudden pang of pity for Shirley's friends – after all, it couldn't be easy to spend time with someone like that. That was the price to pay for being popular in Hescombe – a not always welcome friendship with Shirley Masterson. Connie shuddered as the blonde's harsh and high-pitched voice reached her again, like nails being dragged down a chalkboard right behind her. A door opened a little way down the passage from where she was standing and Connie caught a glimpse of Shirley in a horrible cream dress; all ruffles and bows and pleats like a done-up Cornish pasty. She almost laughed at the sight before ducking behind a fold in the red curtain hanging from the pillar as the bride swept down the corridor after the errant bridesmaid, who was running along the wall away from Shirley. Connie held her breath as they ran past, but thankfully neither of them noticed her figure behind the drape. __

_This is surely not__  
__What you thought it would be_

Heads turned as the bride chased her bridesmaid down the side aisle, their high heels clicking on the stone floor and Shirley's puffy skirts ruffling as she ran, holding them up as she ran. There were some politely muffled exclamations before heads turned away, pretending that the chase wasn't happening. Behind the curtain, Connie snorted. Poor Col. This surely couldn't be the perfect white wedding he'd been looking forward to – and it hadn't even started properly yet. Behind her, Shirley had caught up with the unfortunate girl and was hissing poisonous threats into her ear. Now that she could see it properly, Connie noticed that the bridesmaid's dress was as bad as she'd imagined: very short, bright pink and figure-hugging, with horribly puffed sleeves – like a mixture of an ugly cocktail dress and Disney princess outfit, with truly disgusting results. That combined with her irresponsibly high stilettos in hot pink with rhinestones almost made Connie double over with laughter, but she managed to suppress it as Shirley and her bridesmaid tottered past her back into their changing room. Shaking her head, Connie looked across at the rows of hats in the pews again and sighed softly, going into a reverie.

_I lose myself in a daydream__  
__Where I stand and say:_

What if she _did_ protest when they were about to get married? What would the repercussions be? Shirley would hate her, of course, but she always had. And Col…what would Col do? Would he be happy about it or would he hate her for the rest of his life for interrupting the "big day" that he and his family had been planning for the last few months? But what if it was the right choice after all? It _could_ be the best thing that she could do; but it could also ruin every chance she had with Col. But which was more likely? Connie gazed up at the stained glass window and started to think.__

_Don't say yes, run away now__  
__I'll meet you when you're out__  
__Of the church at the back door_

If she did object, what would she say? "I love you, don't do it?" "I'm so sorry, I still love you, please marry _me_ instead?" "Shirley is a horrible, horrible person, if you marry her you'll regret it for the rest of your life; or at least, I'll regret it, so please don't do it?" None of those worked – they just made her sound stupid. _Which I am_, she reminded herself, _for letting Col go._ Sighing quietly, Connie ran a hand through her hair and peered past the pillar again. There was a half-open door at the end of that aisle, and through that she could see some daylight and the bright green of the lawn and bushes outside. What would happen if she just ran out now? Shirley would become Mrs. Clamworthy, and she'd be blocked out forever. If only she could persuade _Col_ to run out of that door…__

_Don't wait or say a single vow__  
__You need to hear me out__  
__And they said "Speak now"_

How long a grace period would she be allowed after they'd said "Speak now"? Would they just move straight on or let somebody protest? Not that anybody was expected to protest: Col and Shirley were practically a celebrity couple in Hescombe, despite the obvious opinions of Connie and her friends. Jessica Moss and Arran were particularly vocal, and made a point of talking loudly over Shirley whenever she was with them; they claimed it was to block out her whine, but not when Col was anywhere around. Connie absently wondered if they were in the church, and peered around the pillar to look for them. Sure enough, Jess was sitting in the middle of the pew right in front of her in a gorgeous green dress, staring at the door Shirley had just gone through. Suddenly she looked up and met Connie's gaze. Her green eyes widened.

"Connie!" she mouthed, looking stunned.

Connie pressed a finger to her lips frantically, looking around to see if anybody else had noticed her.

"Don't say anything!" she hissed, as quietly as she could manage.

Jess nodded slightly, and flicked her eyes to the altar.

"Speak now?" she mouthed, raising an eyebrow.

Connie rolled her eyes and gave the shadow of a nod. Jessica winked.

"Good luck!" she whispered, but quickly looked away as the old lady Connie had nearly run over slid into the seat next to her.

_Well, that's good,_ thought Connie. _At least _somebody _thinks I can do this._

_Fond gestures are exchanged__  
__And the organ starts to play__ a song__  
__That sounds like a death march_

The organ broke through her reverie, ear-splittingly loud and slightly discordant, as though the organist was playing the wrong bottom note in each chord. Whatever popular wedding tune they were mangling sounding more like it belonged at a funeral – slow and heavy, as though it was being laboured over by somebody who wanted to emphasise the importance of every single note. Jess flicked a glance up at Connie, and the tightening of her mouth showed the obvious pain her ears were in. Connie winced sympathetically. There were some more tonal gratings and then the notes arranged themselves into some semblance of the Wedding March – albeit a horribly flat one. That was just like Shirley – trying to go for something classic and ruining it. With some satisfaction, Connie remembered that Col's favourite wedding music was Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, preferably on a piano – he always thought the Wedding March on an organ was just too…dull. She completely agreed with him. If she'd married him (if only), they would have had Bach cantatas on a harpsichord…blinking, Connie shook herself and came back to the present. If only…__

_And I am hiding in the curtains__  
__It seems I was uninvited__  
__By your lovely bride-to-be_

But here she was, on the day that should have been _her_ wedding, hiding behind a curtain in Hescombe church. Her fists clenched. This was so wrong…Had Col even invited her? Or had he and Shirley consciously decided to exclude her? It was so complicated, trying to work this out. It would help to know just how Col felt about her, but they hadn't been in contact for the past month or so and even before then, talking had been awkward and stilted, like they were friends of friends who were stuck together by some odd sequence of events and forced to make conversation. It was just painful. __

_She floats down the aisle__  
__Like a pageant queen_

And now Shirley was moving down the aisle – presumably there were some connecting passages in the back of the church, because Connie hadn't seen her go past – a smug smile on her face as Mr. Masterson led her down towards her future husband. She waved slightly as she walked, making her look even more like a conceited prom queen that usual: all she was missing was a shiny tiara and a banner. Connie scowled at her as she strutted past, longing to reach out and slap the weather giant companion hard around the garishly made-up face. If anybody deserved it, she definitely did. What on earth did Col think of all this?

_But I know you wish it was me__  
__You wish it was me, don't you?_

Surely there was a little bit of Col who looked at Shirley and wondered what had gone wrong, a bit of Col who still loved Connie? Who wanted to see _Connie_ walking down the aisle towards him in a beautiful dress, a smile on her face as she looked at Col? There was only one way to find out now.__

_Don't say yes, run away now__  
__I'll meet you when you're out__  
__Of the church at the back door_

And now Connie could see Col, as he emerged from behind a stone pillar like the one she was hiding behind, his green and brown eyes shining as he looked at Shirley. There was an uncomfortable jolt in her stomach and she had to look away, not wanting to see how happy he looked. Was she possibly doing the wrong thing? She glanced at Shirley, who was simpering, and back to Col, who was still smiling as though today was the happiest day of his life. Behind him, Rat was grimacing as though he'd just tasted something unpleasant, and not even trying to hide his annoyance. If only Rat could have talked some sense into the groom before he stepped out in front of everybody…but judging by his expression, nothing had happened. Which meant it was all down to Connie.__

_Don't wait or say a single vow__  
__You need to hear me out__  
__And they said "Speak now"_

Shirley reached Col and turned her back to Connie – for which she was sincerely grateful, not wanting to have to look at the girl's horribly smug expression. However, she could still see Col's smile and it made her stomach squirm unpleasantly. Maybe they were really happy together – what might she be breaking up?

"Look closely at his eyes," whispered Jess, apparently to thin air.

Connie heard, and looked at them. Where she had been expecting pure joy, she found slightly stretched cheerfulness, as though he was only pretending. That was the moment she knew she had to save him from what he was about to do. There was no backing down now – for Col's own good, she had to stop the wedding.__

_Don't say yes, run away now__  
__I'll meet you when you're out__  
__Of the church at the back door__  
__Don't wait or say a single vow__  
__Your time is running out__  
__And they said, "Speak now"_

"Dearly beloved," boomed an impressive voice, "we are gathered here today to witness the holy union of Colin Clamworthy and Shirley Masterson…"

Connie shut the words out, thinking through her pending speech. She had to find something good to say, something which would make Col stop and think about what he was doing; but she couldn't think of anything any more. Surfacing from her reverie, she heard the familiar words of the wedding ceremony going past and she realised that her time was quickly running out. Frowning, she quickly tied her hair back, her mind racing. _Come on, come on,_ she thought furiously. _Think of something!_ __

_I hear the preacher say__  
__"Speak now or forever hold your peace"_

_There's the silence, there's my last chance__  
__I stand up with shaking hands, all eyes on me_

"…Speak now or forever hold your peace," droned the man.

Connie was physically shaking now. There was a perfect silence around the church. Nobody was expected to object to such an obviously perfect couple. Connie forced herself to breathe deeply – her stomach was churning and her throat felt like sandpaper. This was it. The vicar was about to continue when she stepped out into full view, her hands shaking. Gasps resounded around the pews, but she forced herself to ignore them.

"Umm…yes?" said the vicar, losing his formal manner in his surprise.

"I…object," murmured Connie faintly. Louder, she repeated it. "I object."__

_Horrified looks from__  
__Everyone in the room__  
__But I'm only looking at you_

Everybody was staring at her – she could feel their eyes on her back, and hear the disgruntled voices of Shirley's family and friends. Rat was giving her a very obvious thumbs up from the front pew and she almost smiled. Almost. But she was still too nervous to do anything like that. She cleared her throat twice and tried to ignore the mutters that were getting louder behind her back – as if nobody cared if she heard any more. She took a deep breath and stared resolutely at the red carpet on the altar.__

_I am not the kind of girl__  
__Who should be rudely barging in__  
__On a white veil occasion_

"I know I'm not the sort of person who should object at a wedding – you all know that," began Connie, nodding to the people she recognised in the crowd. Her voice quavered, but she forced herself to calm down, taking deeper breaths and making herself focus. "But this is wrong, Col, and you know it. Shirley doesn't deserve you, you deserve so much better than her!"

___But you are not the kind of boy__  
__Who should be marrying the wrong girl_

"You're an amazing person and Shirley is a total…well, I'm not going to say what in front of her family, but you know what I mean. You deserve a girl who's going to love you; not because you're popular, not because you're handsome, because you're you. That's not Shirley. You shouldn't write your life off like this – because quite frankly, living with her isn't going to be a bundle of fun. She's needy, whiney, and will spend all of your money without a second thought, because she doesn't love you. Not like I do."__

_So don't say yes, run away now__  
__I'll meet you when you're out__  
__Of the church at the back door_

"So I just wanted to give you a chance to stop before you make the biggest mistake of your life. If you want it, the door's over there. And I'll be waiting, if you change your mind. I thought somebody needed to show you that Shirley isn't your only option. You could find somebody so much better for you if you just looked around a bit."__

_Don't wait or say a single vow__  
__You need to hear me out__  
__And they said, "Speak now"_

"Just…think before you say your vows. Before you say yes and then sacrifice your life to this terrible marriage. That's all I wanted to say – I thought I'd take my chance. So thanks for not throwing me out of the church already, and I'll probably go now. Hopefully I'll see you outside. If not…well, you said "Speak now" and I did. That's all I can do."

Connie finally dared to look up – first at Rat, who was watching Col like a hawk; then the vicar, who was smiling ever so slightly at her; then Shirley, who was glaring at her as though she was something disgusting; and finally, inevitably, at Col. His face was almost expressionless – but his eyes were ablaze with some fierce and unrecognisable emotion which made her nervous. Was he angry with her for ruining his wedding? She couldn't tell at all. There was a moment of awkward silence throughout the entire church, and she felt herself shaking again. She dropped her eyes from Col's face and waited for somebody to speak.

"Umm…" began Rat softly.

"You're right," interrupted Col.

You could have heard a pin drop.

___And you say__  
__Let's run away now__  
__I'll meet you when__  
__I'm out of my tux at the back door_

"Shirley isn't the girl I should be marrying. I don't love her."

The Mastersons gasped, sounding outraged. Shirley looked shocked.

"Col-"

"Shirley, you know it's true. You know that the only girl I should be walking out of here with today is Connie, because she's the only person I've ever been in love with. Interrupting this wedding is the best thing you could have done, Connie, because now I know what I have to do."

He reached out for the cushion Rat was holding and produced a ring. What was supposed to be Shirley's wedding ring. Connie nearly passed out.

"What…" she began weakly.

Col walked up to the pillar, a slight smile spreading across his face, and knelt in front of her.

"Connie Lionheart, will you marry me?" he asked.

Connie froze, and played back what she had just heard in her head. She had to be imagining it, surely? But Col looked so earnest, so sincere…She took a step back.

"No."

Col looked astounded.

"What?"

"Col, I would love to marry you – but not here, not now, and _definitely_ not with Shirley's wedding ring. We've got all the time in the world. Just wait. In the mean time," here Connie smiled at him and prepared to leave, "I'll meet you outside."

Ignoring all the indignant voices behind her, Rat's laughter, Anneena's raucous cheering and all of the other noises that were echoing around the usually quiet church, Connie walked calmly down the aisle to the open door, slipping out of it and walking down towards the road.

As Col watched her leave, he wondered if this had been the best day of his life after all.__

_Baby, I didn't say my vows__, __  
__So glad you were around when they said__  
__"Speak now"_

**Thanks for reading!**


End file.
